


Kinswomen

by Timpeni



Category: Samurai Warriors
Genre: F/F, Gen, did i say shipping i meant gratuitous angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-27
Updated: 2014-11-27
Packaged: 2018-02-27 04:15:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2678717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timpeni/pseuds/Timpeni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hayakawa is the only one of her family left in the castle during rice planting season.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kinswomen

“Ehh? You mean… my lady has never planted any rice before?”

For once, Kai’s exclamation can’t really be heard across the entire castle. Maybe her surprise managed to make her voice breathless enough to only reach room volume. Still, the surprise itself is embarrassing alone, and Hayakawa looks out the window tentatively before nodding.

…Honestly, the real reason why isn’t because she’s lazy, but the threat of her accidentally freezing the crops when she hasn’t quite gotten a hang of her powers yet is real.

“Actually, Kai, I didn’t know you knew how to do it yourself… I thought you would be too busy training.”

A response like that only causes Kai to shake her head violently. “That’s not true! Even before I came to Odawara, I always helped out at rice planting season.” The wooden boards under them shake as Kai suddenly stomps forward to grab Hayakawa’s hand-

“After all, it’s not like only farmers need food, right? And working together as a family is the Hōjō way!”

The words ‘family’ and ‘Hōjō way’ definitely make Hayakawa blink, though she hasn’t yet processed it enough to become more ashamed than she already is. “That does make sense-”

“Which is why you can’t possibly go on without knowing how to even till the land!” That’s when Hayakawa’s hand is dragged, along a bit too suddenly, but she’s gotten used to it at this point. Kai’s been extra-careful to not pop anyone’s shoulders out, anyway. “The daughter of my lord- no, my _lady-_ has to be working outside with her family in rice-planting season! Just because we’re warriors doesn’t excuse us from manual labor!”

They’re running in silence for a while, as Hayakawa winces when she’s dragged outside and the sunlight hits her face.

At the same time, though, she can’t quite hide her smile.

“Alright. Let’s go, Kai!”

(Hayakawa is the only one of her family left in the castle during rice planting season. But now, the castle sits empty. None of the crops are frozen.)

~*~

“Wow, the rice paddies are shining like gold!”

Hayakawa’s mind is obviously somewhere that isn’t the rice paddies.

Kai barely notices her stepping away, because her brothers are _noisy_ but they’re a good kind of noisy. At this point, they’re _Kai’s_ brothers too, so might as well call them that outright- she elbows Ujikuni when he tries pushing Ujimasa down the hill, while only results in Ujikuni being the one to go tumbling, though it’s nothing but hilarious in that clunky armor-

“My lady!”

_Now,_ she notices Hayakawa isn’t by her side. “Come back here! I have to show you the rice you grew!”

The familiar soft smile returns to Hayakawa’s face (returns? Yes, there was a split second where it wasn’t there). “The rice I grew…?”

“That’s right! I remember exactly where it is. Just follow me!”

With that exclamation, the brothers decide amongst each other to make it a race- they’re off before Kai can catch up. Before she can yell ‘wait for me’, Hayakawa grips Kai’s hand, and asks:

“You remember exactly where it is…? But there’s so many…”

“It’s simple, I have flawless memory when it comes to you, my lady! …Hey, why are you laughing?! I’m telling the truth!”

Kai’s pout and Hayakawa’s amusement both get cut off by a gust of wind.

(The autumn leaves are like warriors: ready to die for the sake of the place they hailed from, and constantly trampled in the chaos of the times.)

~*~

There is absolutely _nothing_ that can prepare anyone for _this._

She’d had someone leave her family already. (And she knows how that ended. They all did.) But as horrid as it sounds, Saburō had left the family for years already. And- Hayakawa wasn’t as close to him. They were still family, no doubt, but time has its way to cleaving cleanly through ties.

But her father was someone who was always _there._ An indomitable fortress, much like the castle they lived in. And it’s clear Kai thought the same way, because when everyone was turning to demons and power they turned to him.

Because he turned away from excuses and compromises, living the way Kai always wanted to. And Ujimasa, Ujiteru, they’re _dead_ and not even by an enemy’s hand. Even her nephew Ujinao is god-knows-where, hiding away in exile.

How do you react to that, then? Having the pillars in your life torn away from you?

Kai is tough. Or at least, she acts tough, because Hayakawa _knows_ she heard crying before she left for Osaka. A castle in the middle of Japan, that towers over the landscape and shows a clear view of the irrigated river. A balcony where they can see the later-growing rice paddies in autumn and the falling cherry blossoms in spring. They only bloom for so many days a year, and it must be amazing, to see it from the seat of the person who rules the land. ‘Living in the capital as handsome servants tend to you and watching the scenery, that sounds like the best kind of life!’

Kai is not going to Kyoto as the ruler, and her father is not passing away as the head of Kantō.

Even rotting away in peace seems to be a no-go, because the man that turned her whole life upside down doesn’t even have the decency to live and enjoy the results.

Except, maybe ‘rotting away’ is too harsh a phrase. Because Hayakawa definitely wasn’t dead, and she definitely didn’t act like she was. Having the domain renamed as ‘Edo’ was a bit jarring, mostly because ‘Edo’ meant ‘bay-area’ and it almost sounded as if the Toyotomi was renaming her home into a business rather than a _home._

But it’s not like Hayakawa could complain, and so Edo was built into the seat of power and wealth the Toyotomi wanted, under the hands of Ujiyasu’s remaining descendants. (Except the person who sits in this seat won’t ever be from the Toyotomi, but that’s something she’ll only learn later.) It’s been so long, so long since the battle that tore everything apart, and she can almost _see_ how the sands of time grind her remaining family into dust-

By the time a call for help from the Tokugawa arrives, she’s buried her youngest brother.

~*~ 

“Kantō… or is this Edo now? It has turned into a fine domain.”

Hayakawa could almost mistake Kai’s words for something lighthearted, if there wasn’t blood drenching her dress and a noticeably less cheery tone ringing through her ears.

The years have been harsh. Detained in Osaka or not after the resistance against the Tokugawa at Ueda Castle, Kai hasn’t been cut off from the rest of the world completely. Hayakawa knows, and she can _hear_ it. The decades of bad news and misfortune they wept over, but not together. As if it wasn’t obvious enough, Kai continues speaking before Hayakawa can even muster the willpower to step closer (to the last member of her close family)-

“I will be sure to report as much back to my lord. I am sure he’ll be quite pleased to hear it!”

And Hayakawa thought it couldn’t get any harder to do.

“Kai!” She can’t look at Kai’s face, she can barely hold onto her dakyu stick, and to the ground it falls- “I cannot bear to do such an evil task!”

She’s staring at the ground now, but she can hear Kai stepping closer. She’s close to sobbing, but maybe the constant funerals have made her eyes run dry, because Hayakawa can only shake her head and choke. “If I must slay you… I…”

Kai grabs Hayakawa’s head and tilts it up.

She barely registers the look of rage on the bear princess’ face before she _slaps_ her.

“You fool! Is that really all the spine you’ve got?!” That’s rich from Kai, when her whipsword has been abandoned a few feet away. Hayakawa always knows when Kai is close to tears, and this is-

“You must be strong enough to turn aside your tears and emotions!”

Hayakawa stares dumbly for just a moment, before reaching for her dakyu stick and nodding.

~*~

(Hayakawa is the only one of her family left in the castle. She tends to the small rice paddies alone.)

**Author's Note:**

> i rped for like a year and i thought that might've deteriorated my writing style so i tried writing this
> 
> and then i came to the belated realization that my writing style was always shit in the first place


End file.
